Comments from the Editor

I know I've talked about this a lot, but I believe there are a lot of connections between gaming and computers. This week is the GenCon Conference in Indianapolis where tens of thousands of gamers will converge into a single location to play games. Many of these games are not computer-based, but several are. You might thing this sounds a bit whimsical, but it is actually very serious business.

Online communities and social networks are growing in popularity. One of the books I mention in today's newsletter focuses on profiting by starting an online community. One community that is being launched in the very near futures will likely get serious coverage at GenCon this week. Thist is Champions Online by Atari. Don't be fooled into thinking it is "just a game." It is going to be an application of technology that allows thousands of people to interact and communication. Consider similar software online such as SecondLife, which allows for numerous business applications. As people start playing these games, they will expect the same types of features in their more productive applications. For these reasons, as developers, we need to pay attention.

It is also interesting to see that while GenCon is not a computer conference, they are tapping into technology as well. They will have an application created by LaViaz Mobile called "Gen Con Indy Mobile" that will let iPhone and iPhone Touch users synchronize the conference catalog while at the event. Attendees will be able to mark events that they are attending, as well as be able to let their friends know what events they are attending. With the obvious FaceBook and Twitter connections within the application, it should help attendees keep in touch and connect up. While that might seem minor, when there are tens of thousands of people spread across an entire convention center and a few hotels, it can be hard to find others!

The bottom line — while it might seem that a conference such as GenCon is all about games, it really isn't that hard to create justifications for a developer to need to spend a day or two there instead of staying in the office. After all, it is a chance to learn.

Recently Published Books

For those of you keeping up by reading books. The following are just a few of the new books that have been recently released. If you've read any of these, feel free to write a review to be posted on CodeGuru. See the submission guidelines.

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